A crisis of Faith (Myst of Pandaria)

Alnarra returned home, finding her husband making himself busy trying to clean the ruins of furniture strewn about, he looked up to her wiping his brow clean of the sweat and dust, “I put in an order for another table,” he said sheepishly, putting on his brightest smile that he could manage. 

She tried to smile back at him, “It looks much better than it did,” knowing that in his sadness and rage he had seen fit to destroy the furnishings in the room. It was not the small den that weighed on her though, if that were such a small thing that it could phase her she would have been crushed by now, “And you really don’t have to buy a table, it’s not like there’s much of importance in here anyway”. 

Hafu returned a frown knowing she was lying, “I thought perhaps you had run away again,” he said quietly. 

"Oh no…. just decided to go to Stormwind. I don’t really know why, but it seemed like a good idea at the time," she shrugged a bit going over to the dresser to put away some things. 

"I’m sorry I didn’t look for you," he said glumly, "I didn’t want to run into my mother," he looked at her sadly, trying to wrap his hands around her waist. 

She sighed heavily, petting him softly on the ears, “Yeah…” she breathed in deeply, “Speaking of your mother, she wanted to pass along a letter to you,” she pulled a small letter from her satchel handing it to him, “I gathered from the conversation that she didn’t want me to read it,” her eyes returning to organizing the things in her dresser. 

Hafu sliced the small envelope with his claw, pulling the letter out and reading it slowly, as he read on, he gulped loudly before turning to Alnarra, “Hey… you,” a nervous tone making it was into his words, “Come here, I haven’t had the chance to hold you in such a long time,” 

Alnarra turned from her relatively shallow attention to reorganizing the dresser, “You held me last night….” her voice half filled with bemusement and the other half an almost annoyance. 

"Yes well you know…" he began to say making his way towards a small bench, "You were gone so long…" he offered his arms to embrace her, "I just wanted to hold you in my arms again is all," 

Alnarra gave a bemused roll of her eyes before going over to return his affections. He was quick to pick her up and hold her in his arms, “See there…. ” his eyes filled with a sadness she had not seen in him. 

"Hafu… what’s wrong… what did that letter say?" 

Hafu shook his head before setting her down gently on the rather poorly made hay collection the two called a bed, she looked on to him with growing concern. 

"Hafu… what did the letter say?" 

He paused for as long as he could manage before settling down in front of her,"Alnarra… Fafen has died," his tone hushed and his face racked with pain as he delivered the news, “I know how much she meant to you,” he began to say. 

Alarra stared blankly at him for a moment, the full weight and impact of his words not truly meshing with her mind, “Fafen Evermoon… has died?” she repeated, a note of scepticism in her voice. 

Hafu could only nod in response, “Hansel of the blades told my Mother earlier today,” he said quietly, “She thought it best if she not be the one to deliver the news,” 

"Fafen Evermoon, has died," Alnarra repeated, her mind still trying to wrap itself around the words.

"Hansel explained that she had come into possession of a cursed ring, That it had been slowly weakening her, killing her. Alnarra I’m so sorry… I know she meant a great deal to you, but you should know that she faced death with bravery, courage, and conviction. She passed peacefully surrounded by her sentinels." 

Alnarra sat quietly, her body still, Azeroth still turning beneath her. She began to bite at her lip, flashes of her feline forms fur rising and falling with her breathing. Hafu tried desperately to  comfort her, holding her tightly against him and stroking his claws through her hair. 

Alnarra’s frame began to shake as her breathing slowed, she stood up slowly, no sign of emotion on her face, not hint of an expression. Finding herself in the middle of the room she looked up to the dirt roof that covered the den, her fist clenched into a ball. 

"Is this all just some kind of damn game to you?" her words not seemingly directed at anyone, "Do you get some kind of perverse pleasure out of this?" she seethed with hatred, flashes of feline fur once again rippling across her skin, "The priestess in the temple kept telling me that I could not understand the path laid out before me, before any of us. I think they’re all just covering for you!" 

Her tone became less of a conversation and more of a shout, “What in all of Azeroth had she ever done but praise your name? To tell us all how great and wise you were, that it was you who brought our people all the greatness of the world. What did any of that do for her? Is this her reward for those years of service in your name to die to some cursed trinket?” 

Hafu tried to come up behind her, attempting to put his hand on her shoulder, but Alnarra seemed unphased. 

"Do you remember when my three children died out there in the scorching heat of the Desert? My two boys,” she shouted as tears began to roll down her face, “Tal was my oldest, and I loved him. He was going to get married, but you let him die screaming for his mother in some wretched desert. Did you even notice!? Did it not pain you to not act as those wretched creatures tore them limb from limb?”  she slammed her fist Den wall, “They weren’t fighting! They were doctors, they wanted to help people!”

Alnarra screamed at the top of her lungs, “Where were you, when those cultist took my husband’s life? The priestesses told me that this was all part of some grand plan, some greater scheme,”

"But you would not have found m-" Hafu tried to interject, his eyes pleading as she turned her back, ignoring him.

"Was my losing my unborn child all part of the plan too you feckless bitch!?" her tears quickly turning to weeping, "The Kaldori have lost one of their brightest stars and you do nothing!"  

She began to speak purely in Darnassian, any hints of common falling away, “Praise be the Light of Elune! May she light your path in the darkest of times. My mother used to say that to me over and over again.” she spit on the ground in frustration, “All praise to the strength and wisdom of the lady of the night! They are nothing more then hollow empty words.” 

Alnarra finally collapsed to her knees still shaking in anger, “Your children bleed across the grounds of Azeroth, we have lost everything and all that remains is a fragmented broken people, We tried to stay strong, we tried to help the younger races, to protect what we were told to hold dear,” as sobbing overtook her, Hafu simply ran his claws through her hair, frowning deeply. 

"I tried…. I tried so hard," she wept, "I did everything that was asked of me, remained strong when I was told that my family had been destroyed. I cried out in your name and you never answer."

"Why don’t you answer? What have we done to forsake you?"